Social media tips from the field

Social Network tactics

Below you are going to find a huge list of top tips from the field on what does and does not work. These tips are from companies from a one-person operation to Fortune 500 giants. If you put into practice only a fraction of what is here, I promise you your social media traffic will be huge.

Let me know what your think.

I use Twitter as a marketing tool by giving daily SMB PR tips and sometimes general SMB tips as well as re-tweeting any interesting articles and news relevant to small business.  I’ve gotten a couple of radio interviews out of it, some new business leads and more importantly met and introduced others to one another.  It is a tool that I regularly encourage my clients to use.  I have one client who gives out coaching advice, another delivers helpful information to moms and parents about green options for baby.  All in all, it’s a great tool to encourage expert positioning, easy and not time consuming.  However, content is king.  Without it none of us could be successful with the tool. I also use LinkedIn and recently started a group to test a new idea I have for small businesses….  Jennifer Fortney  http://www.cascadecomms.com

We use both our blog (blog.brickhousesecurity.com) and Twitter(Twitter.com/brickhousesec) as a non- traditional marketing tool. We don't use either to advertise any of our products, but rather to increase our brand exposure and reach out to new potential customers, as well as current ones. If you'd like to hear more about how we use social networking sites as a marketing tool, and some of the experiences we've had using them, please let me know. Helena Stone  http://www.brickhousesecurity.com

I use Twitter & Facebook to engage with our core audience. My company, CourseAdvisor, matches students with campus & online degree programs, and our sister site EducationGrant.com puts student loan & financial aid information in the hands of those people that otherwise are unsure. I use Twitter to answer questions and offer suggestions about financial aid, online degree programs, and to disseminate our blog posts. I also use Facebook to share our blog posts and other industry news that might be worthwhile for our audience to know. Our Fans also publish questions / comments to the wall as well. Sandra Proulx  http://www.courseadvisor.com

I have used social media as a marketing tool and with some relatively quick success. I only just learned how to use it, but I have been found for publicity and business opportunities that relate to my business through Twitter. I have found businesses that are able to help me grow my own affordably. Facebook combined with Twitter has driven traffic to my blog along with networking with other food bloggers. Digg, de.lici.ious and the like also successfully drive traffic to my blogs. I have gained 70 followers in 2 weeks and this is simply by sharing valuable information as it relates to food and holiday preparation. Angela McKeller  http://www.kickbackkook.com

I started a business called Pocket Dots http://pocketdots.com) about 2-3 months ago and use Facebook and Twitter for marketing. Actually all of my sales in the beginning were from Facebook... Facebook ads, the fan page, and messages through Facebook. It's hard to spend so much money up front on advertising when starting your own business. The main user group of my product is 25-35 yrs old, which is a huge group on social networking sites. It works great for me! I also use Twitter and have found contests I wouldn't have heard of otherwise that I was able to enter; Pocket Dots are going to be featured in an expectant moms event in Texas because of Twitter. Also, other businesses started following me that I can network with and learn from. Annie  http://www.pocketdots.com

I use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. as a business marketing tool.  I have friends and family on there. I got a house sold, new listings, and showing some houses.  I post pics of my listings in my picture page so I don’t feel I’m sending people junk, if they want to see my pics then they go through my home listings.  I also post some links to sites with good info for home buyers or sellers.  Sandra Rangel  http://www.sgrproperties.com

I use social media in a number of different ways.  For of all, I use blogs as the basis for my online presence.  I have four blogs that I use to address different parts of my market:

•       www.insideeldercare.com - my self-help website.  Builds credibility for other parts of my business and is the reason I got into elder care.  It was a family medical crisis.

•       www.leadersineldercare.com - I found that many people don't get the exposure they deserve but do great things to help our elders, so I am using this blog to interview them.

•       www.portraitofourparents.com - a mechanism for people to memorialize the individual memories of their parents.

•       www.eldercaremarketer.com - my consulting business to help elder care companies better market their products and services.

While my blogs are the foundation of my brand, I use Twitter for two reasons: (1) word of mouth marketing through Tweets; and (2) competitor monitoring and checking the pulse of the market through search.Twitter.com.  Ryan Malone  http://www.insideeldercare.com

I am the Social Media Strategist for Mike Michalowicz The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. I have been using social networking tools for marketing purposes for over 4 years and successfully help Mike drive anywhere from 20,000 to 70,000 visits/month through his website using this technology.  Scott Bradley  http://www.networkingeffectively.com

I am the co-founder of a website for kids. We have had success using YouTube as a marketing tool. I have found that the most important step when creating a social networking strategy for marketing your company is to identify the platform that fits your goals and resources best. My company created CampPete.com, an online football world for kids in partnership with USC Football Coach Pete Carroll as well as several other similar sites for Steve Spurrier, Charlie Weis and Barry Switzer. All sites are new this summer. The particular challenge we have is that our target user is a child age 5-12 which means social networking doesn't really reach them. So instead we've had to tailor our social networking approach to their parents and fans of the coaches. When we began, we threw a pretty wide net and tried many different social networking sites. Most of them showed little - if any - results. But when we tried YouTube, something clicked. To me, the difference is that we have the resources to make a real contribution in that platform. We have a large library of short video clips from each of the coaches which we use in the online games. For YouTube, we've picked out some of them and we release a new one once per week. Now, some of our videos have over 500 views each. And we've made a point to include a link to our site, and a short promo clip with every video so when someone watches the clip, they're also watching a commercial about our website for kids. Kim Wilson  http://www.playactiononline.com

 Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and blogging have had a measurable impact on my business. I post new work on my blog which is set up to automatically send a tweet to my 650+ followers.  An RSS feed also sends this information to my Facebook account.  This has helped to keep my work in front of potential clients on a daily basis.  As a result, my website traffic, print, and book sales have all increased. Chris Corradino www.christography.com blog-christography.blogspot.com

I use social media to promote my clients and my PR firm MediaFirst. I have a LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook corporate Page. We post client press releases, whitepapers and articles. I also have a page on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I subscribe to Twibes that focus on a particular topic, which in my case is supply chain. For LinkedIn I subscribe to several groups of key target audiences that my clients address. From LinkedIn we have gotten 4 or 5 leads within last 30 days! Becky  www.mediafirst.net

I am a marketing research consultant with a solo practice. I have been on LinkedIn for about 4 years, but started really using it only recently (not sure why).  Here are some of the ways in which I use it. I have joined 19 groups, and join discussions on a regular basis. Through those discussions, I’ve linked with several other marketing professionals around the world. I wrote an article on the ROI of marketing research, and posted it on several of these groups’ pages—gotten some nice comments on it. I receive status updates for the people in my network, so I figure they are getting status updates on me; that keeps me on their radar scopes. Ann Middleman  http://www.admmarketing.com

I am the Social Media Marketing Coordinator at TheCuteKid.com baby & child photo contest and child modeling resource. I think I may be able to help you with your query. As the Social Coordinator, I use Twitter, Facebook and MySpace as marketing tools to enhance our traditional marketing efforts by keeping people who are already our members up to date with news and information as well as use it for lead generation to find people who have not yet heard about it. I feel as though marketing through social networks is a great tool for brand exposure because you are going to the potential customer on a medium that they already use. It is also a great tool because they know there is someone behind the message they are seeing. This personal effect makes them a lot more comfortable because they know they are talking to a person and not just a logo. I tend to sign much of my personal messages I receive with Jen at The CuteKid. Jen Dwyer  http://www.thecutekid.com

I’ve been using social networking sites as a marketing tool since 2006- that’s 3 years of experience, 3 years of seeing what works and what doesn’t work, 3 years of proven results. I currently consult with experts and information marketers who are adjusting from “old school” marketing to Web 2.0 marketing. I frequently present on the topic of social media marketing on teleseminars and telesummits, as well as speak at live events. Because I’ve been at this for much longer than the majority of “experts”, I can give a long range overview of what really works for long term success. My clients have not only increased their leads and their networks, but massively increased their incomes. The Viva Visibility Blog (which I author) has tons of great information. Nancy Marmolejo  http://www.VivaVisibilityBlog.com

I work for a book publishing company and have found that Facebook is a very helpful way to reach out to the media. For some reason I get more responses to pub authors if I contact the media through Facebook than I do normal email channels. Perhaps because using Facebook does not seem like work? Sarah Hawley  http://www.orangefrazer.com

Of course - we've all been told (and I have been on the sites for over a year now) that we have to use social media as a marketing tool. I have all my blog posts, Ezine Articles and now my Examiner.com articles linked to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in order to gain visibility. I did have one fellow alum from my college contact me once with the possibility of a future job because she noticed me on Linked In. Gisele Perez  http://www.smallpleasurescatering.com

I am an award winning writer about the Civilian Pilot Training Program of WWII and aviation in the mid '40's (see links below). But I know little to nothing about aviation, I'm not a pilot, in know not about the military. Because of my book, I was asked by a major regional fly-in to write an article for their program this summer. I needed highly qualified and respected people to help with the technical aspect for my proposed article on top pilot training "The Consummate Pilot: What Makes a Sully? I belong to about 10 of the top aviation groups of Linkedin and put a query on their discussion boards, asking for recommendations for top instructors and pilots. I was able to hand pick throughout those recommendations for people to help me write the article. I also use the discussion tool to regularly announce my book events: signings, speaking engagements, etc. It has been an excellent marketing tool to target groups and people that have a definite interest. I have signed up for Twitter and Facebook, but have not been very active marketing with them, since Linkedin seems so much more focused with the groups, to the people who would have an interest. Jane Birch  http://www.theyflewproud.com

I am a social media consultant and I work with small and large businesses on how to grow using social media. I have seen a wide variety of uses of social media in growing businesses.  I have a client who effectively used Twitter to grow sales and find new clients simply by staying on the pulse of requests for his services (ie. Does anyone know where to get T-Shirts printed?). I have another client who is using Twitter for customer service and to provide support to those looking for more information about their products. Krista Neher  www.bootcampdigital.com

We use social media and social networking to augment our strategy for achieving marketing objectives. But we have a clear understanding of their purpose and possibilities in two realms – social media, and social networking.

Social Media is a means to many ends – greater visibility (SEO), demonstrable thought leadership, establishing market preeminence, and perhaps social networking. We’re experts in social media plumbing; the delicate science of streamlining social media participation in ways that are operationally efficient.

Social Networking is what happens after social media has performed well; it is the humanistic side of the conversational web. Ergo, you can sign up on Linkedin and you can make 10,000 connections, but nothing will happen unless you produce social media. There are many types of social media . For example, a simple “Hello, tell me about your business.” written on a Facebook wall is a social media artifact. A blog post about the “The New Real-time Web” is also a social media artifact. Both examples might lead to a conversation which is an instance of social networking. Bill French  http://www.myst-technology.com

I rely on Twitter and Facebook on a daily basis. I've been working in the design/marketing industry as a creative director for the past 18 years and recently started making a career change into culinary, cooking, writing and marketing food and beverage. Facebook has connected me with a world of key industry people - chefs, mentors, food writers and PR people. As a result, I've been able to secure interviews with celebrity chefs and gain valuable career advice from seasoned chefs excited about my career change and goals. And Twitter has been a huge marketing tool for me. My stats double every time I publish a recipe link from my food page to Twitter. Without both of these tools, it would be taking me much longer to establish myself as an expert in the culinary field. The cons to all of this social networking though is maintaining a small bit of anonymity. I want people to know about my work, what I'm cooking, reading, writing about. So, sometimes, Twitter followers can be a little scary to deal with. I keep a close eye on Facebook and Twitter, monitoring who can see and who cannot see my Tweets and posts. I try to keep followers to just food-related or marketing people, which keeps my stats a little bit lower, but leaves me with quality rather than quantity.  Dawn Viola  http://www.dawnviola.com

My company, Fathom, and our clients use social networking tools in a variety of ways. Here are just a few of them: Social Media Experiment: In May we started an experiment to see if we could create an ongoing event and only promote it via Facebook/Twitter/social networks, so we started CT TweetCrawl, half happy hour and half networking, where we bring the event to local restaurants across the state. In just 3 events, we've built a following of 140+ people, with our last event's attendance at 35. Along with helping to get the word out about Fathom, our clients such as Wireless Zone (retailer), TANGO (non-profit) which we branded and just launched on Twitter, is helping organizations build their fan base via social media through very targeted efforts. Regarding our experiences in helping clients use social networking platforms, we've found that not everyone is a good fit in the current climate. If an organization doesn't have the muscle behind the curtain to sustain this type of outreach, or if they just don't "get it", then it will fail so we've had instances where we've steered clients away from attempting a full social media attack until it has a relatively clear path to success. Suzi Craig  http://www.fathom.net